There is no doubt that 2023 has been an incredibly hard year for Chicago White Sox fans. There have been some very bad decisions made with the team and a lot of change is on the horizon as a result.
One of the things that is starting to happen is the letting go of players who were long-time fan favorites. Few people reached the top of the pyramid more than Tim Anderson. For a long time, Anderson was the face of the Chicago White Sox.
You can even argue that Anderson was one of the faces of the league as a whole. He truly was incredible during his tenure on the Southside. From the famous bat flip to the batting title win to the Field of Dreams walk-off win, he was bringing fans out of their seat regularly.
In 2023, Anderson’s personal life started to become more of the story and he started to play poorly on the field. When you are lousy at the position of shortstop, you let the team down in more ways than one. That is especially true when a team is now losing the elite production that he was once giving them.
The Chicago White Sox and Tim Anderson won't be together in 2024.
On Saturday, the Chicago White Sox announced that they are not picking up the 14-million-dollar club option that Anderson had for the 2024 season. He gets $1 million for the buyout. He is now an MLB free agent that is free to go to any team.
It is sad the way that it is ending for the Chicago White Sox tenure of Tim Anderson. When he was playing well with Team USA back during the World Baseball Classic, nobody would have ever predicted this as the season was about to begin.
It shouldn't be a problem for Anderson to find work in 2024 but it wouldn't be as easy if he had a good year. He has some proving to do this off-season. It was fun having him in Chicago. We can only hope he felt the love back, especially when things were going well for the team.